


It Should Have Been Me

by joyseer24



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Epic Mickey (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Brotherly Love, Gen, One Shot, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25446658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyseer24/pseuds/joyseer24
Summary: After Mickey leaves Wasteland, he has some things he wants to say to his late father about what he found out.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	It Should Have Been Me

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up, this fic is set just after the events of Epic Mickey, but Oswald isn't back under the Disney name yet, in case it isn't clear while reading. I hope you enjoy it.

Mickey was used to long days, with him being an actor and a businessman at the same time. He was used to balancing the workload left to him by Walt after the man passed on and the adventuring that he did for new stories to be told. However, this day felt like the longest in a long while. 

In the span of a single night, Mickey was dragged into Wasteland, learned he had a long-lost brother, lost and reclaimed his heart from a monster he created, and earned an earful from Yen Sid for being so reckless. By the time he had returned home, his body begged him to return to bed and sleep. Instead, he brewed some coffee as he got ready for the day and the numerous meetings that were ahead of him. This included a self-imposed meeting with Universal to try and gain the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit so that their adventure together could be spread to the real world. If all went well, then Oswald could be famous again. 

But that word, “again”, it bothered Mickey. He tried to hide it throughout the day, but a million thoughts of Wasteland were swimming half-formed in his head. Mickey refused to think about it, not until he was at a special place. 

And there he was at the end of the day. Disneyland had closed already after hours of fun and magic, so he was completely alone in front of the firehouse that was under Walt’s apartment. Mickey gazed at the soft glow of the lamp in the window, which acted as a reminder to all that Walt’s spirit would always be there. He then climbed the stairs and used a personal key to enter the home of his late creator and father.

The place was visually the same as it had been when the man was alive, though to the mouse it would always hold an emptiness from Disney’s absence. Mickey walked over and stared at the lamp. Whenever Mickey felt the need to talk to Walt, he used the lamp as a substitute, as though speaking to it might just send his words across the great beyond for him to hear. It had acted as a way to cope and a way for the mouse to include Walt in his joys and sorrows. He lost count of the hours he spent rambling on to the object about the company, movies, his friends, and so much more. Right now, Mickey needed to let his father know just what he was feeling. 

The smile that Mickey always wore shifted to a frown, and then to a scowl, before the mouse was suddenly shaking with rage. In an instant, Mickey cast a spell he used at times like these, where his emotions could accidentally cause him to cast out-of-control spells and damage anything near him. With the magic in place and the door locked, Mickey finally let his true feelings come forth. 

At first all Mickey could manage was screaming his lungs out. After forcing himself to not think about what happened to Oswald for him to end up in Wasteland, he needed to scream while his thoughts finally took form. Small red sparks shot out of his hands, dissipating before hitting the ground thanks to the magic blocking spell, but the fact Mickey could manage to create anything was a testament to his fury. 

“How-how could you?!” Mickey finally screamed at the lamp, glaring as though he were staring at Walt himself. “You-you left him behind! You left him to be forgotten and unloved! Didn’t you care about him?!” 

Of course Walt cared about Oswald; the rabbit was the entire reason that Walt created Wasteland. Walt knew that land as Waltsland, and he was never informed of the fate of that befell the sanctuary. Yen Sid was too embarrassed that Mickey had snuck passed him and accidentally transformed Wasteland into what it was, so the sorcerer told half lies to Walt so that the man could rest easy. Mickey only knew that now because the sorcerer decided to tell him before returning the mouse home. 

“You sure have a funny way of showing you care! It’s only after he lost his heart-once he was about to disappear-that you decide to do something to save him! And the way you save him wasn’t even by trying to get him back!” Mickey threw his hands into the air as he turned away from the lamp and stomped around the room. 

“No, instead you leave him without an audience, craving attention and wanting what he lost! Do you have any idea-have a single idea how that feels to a toon?! To a PROTAGONIST toon?! Sure, Pete might be used to it, but he is used to being an antagonist, and the background toons are used to being in the background. Oswald was meant to be in the spotlight, but you couldn’t find a way to let him shine so you left him! You left him!” 

Mickey turned back to the lamp and pointed his finger accusingly. “And you had the audacity to never tell me! You told Oswald about Julius-about the Alice Comedies you did before him-but you left me in the dark about your past! About where Pete came from before me, about Oswald and Universal, and about Julius!” 

Mickey took a deep breath to try and calm himself a little before continuing, magic no longer sparking from his gloves and his words cold. “When I asked ‘Hey, why do these gags feel like they have been done before?’ what did you say? Oh yeah, ‘Don’t be silly Mickey, you’re my first star, no one could have done this before you, you’re just imagining things’. That was a big lie. Oswald did those gags before me, but you always said I was the first. Always telling me that I was your only star. Well, who’s fault is that?” Mickey spun around to face the lamp once more, feeling all his emotions and bitterness swirl inside of him. 

“You know that Oswald lost his character?” Silence. “Of course you didn’t. You never bothered to check on him, so how would you know how he was? Well, I’ll tell you, he’s no longer the toon you knew. From Universal’s hold on him to being forgotten in Wasteland to… to losing everything, he lost who he was. Oswald almost turned himself into a villain because of it all, and I don’t blame him. Even now, his characterization is in shambles. One moment he is bitter and pessimistic, the next happy-go-lucky and as naive as I was when I was first drawn, and the next angry and resentful. It will take a lot of time for him to rebuild himself, and even then, he might still have trouble acting. That’s not all your fault, but you certainly played a part.” Mickey started to shake once more. He stood up straight, his rage returning, but this time wet with tears forming in his eyes. 

“Were you really that scared? That scared of looking back? You always focused on the future-so focused on moving forward-on the next big thing-but you were scared! Scared of looking back at your past mistakes, so instead you looked at the future! Well, look where that got you; adoring fans, a magical park, fame around the world, and a son who hates that he is alone! Alone with no father, no family, and a brother who he didn’t even know about ‘til today!”

Mickey let out a bitter laugh as he stepped up to the table that Walt’s lamp rested upon. “You really should have tried to get Oswald back. I know that there would have been a financial risk-that you wouldn’t be sure if our company would stay afloat, or if it would flop like all your attempts before me. But you still should have tried. We could have been brothers on and off stage. All those stories, all those movies and shorts that I was in, he could have been a part of them too. We could have been in them together. He could have been a star-the star of all of them. It shouldn’t have been him you left behind!”

Mickey was crying hard now, his tears overflowing as he sank to the floor and his rage replaced by sorrow. “It should have been me.”

The mouse would eventually dry his eyes and walk home, as though this interaction never happened. He would make a trade so that Oswald could be under the Disney name again, and they would even make a few games about Mickey’s adventures in the world of forgotten toons. Oswald would then demand a break from acting and would stick with cameos and comics until he reinvented who he was. But that would be later, because at the moment, all Mickey could do was cry.


End file.
